Family meeting: Ramaphosa trumpets success stories on the eve of elections

President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on all South Africans to cast their votes in this week’s national election.

“Preparations have been made to ensure this election is once again free and fair, and that there are no disturbances or disruptions to the election process,” Ramaphosa said during a “family meeting” broadcast on Sunday evening. 

He said while the last few months had been characterised by vigorous campaigning and contestations that became robust and heated at times, they had been peaceful and free of intimidation as people adhered to the code of conduct. 

“We should be concerned by today’s reports of unlawful entry into the IEC storage sites in KwaZulu-Natal and the disruption of election processes,” Ramaphosa said. He was referring to the Independent Electoral Commission’s announcement that MK party supporters had entered storage facilities without authorisation and managed to remove electoral material such as signs, polling station material and some unfolded boxes — all of which had been recovered and returned to the commission. 

“My fellow South Africans, this election brings to a close our sixth administration in office,” he said, describing it as the period in which both apartheid and state capture had been brought to an end. 

“We are now on a new trajectory in which we are implementing economic reforms... tackling crime and corruption. We have faced challenges that have tested our resilience and resolve along the way,” he said, claiming that state-owned enterprises were being rebuilt. 

Referring to some of the seven new pieces of legislation he signed into law in the past three weeks, Ramaphosa proclaimed that “on Friday I established the National Prosecuting Agency’s investigative directorate against corruption as a permanent entity”. 

He said South Africans had survived the Covid-19 pandemic, and he trumpeted the lowering of infection rates, social and economic support packages for vulnerable workers and households and the administering of 39-million vaccine doses as among the successes. 

In recent years, he said, catastrophic floods across the country saw South Africans come together to provide material assistance to those in need, jobs lost during the pandemic had been recovered and the economy had returned to pre-Covid 19 levels. 

He cited the recent reduction in load-shedding as a massive success story, along with the revitalisation of infrastructure and the construction industry. 

“We have R1.5-trillion in new investment commitments,” Ramaphosa claimed, adding that there were “master plans” in place in eight industries. 

“We have provided support to over 1,000 black industrialists in the past five years, and 500,000 workers now own shares in the businesses they work for.” 

He said efforts to address youth unemployment were bearing fruit and new laws to strengthen the criminal justice system had been implemented. 

“On Friday I signed into law the establishment of a National Council on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide to lead and co-ordinate a national response,” Ramaphosa said. 

Ramaphosa said last year’s matric pass rate was the highest ever, the number of students receiving financial aid had doubled and much work — through diplomacy and the South African National Defence Force peacekeepers — had been done “to silence guns throughout the continent”. 

“My fellow South Africans, the last five years have been a time of rebuilding and recovery. We have put in place firm foundations for a better future... I wish you all happy voting.” 

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